MILF Commits Anew to International Humanitarian Law on Landmines
The Philippine Campaign to Ban Landmines (PCBL), affiliate of the 1997 Nobel Peace laureate International Campaign to Ban Landmines (ICBL), hereby announces the recent signing by the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) of a new instrument developed by PCBL entitled “Rebel Group Declaration of Adherence to International Humanitarian Law on Landmines” – bring to four the number of signatory rebel groups in the Philippines, all in this year.
This declaration allows non-state armed groups (NSAGs) to adhere to, become accountable for, and generate assistance for compliance with the key norms, standards and undertakings of existing international humanitarian law (IHL) on landmines, not limited to those of the 1997 Ottawa Treaty totally banning victim-activated anti-personnel mines.
The MILF declaration was signed (not just initialed) by its representatives on 21 October 2008 and was received by PCBL on 10 November 2008. It was signed by two important MILF Central Committee members, namely Atty. Lanang S. Ali, who is Vice-Chairman of the Maglis Al Shoorah (the MILF legislative body), and Sammy Al Mansor, Chief of Staff of the Bangsamoro Islamic Armed Forces (BIAF, the MILF army).
What is significant about this MILF declaration is its being signed while there are ongoing armed hostilities (since last August) in Central Mindanao between the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) and at least three base commands of the MILF/BIAF which had reacted violently to the aborted signing of a Memorandum of Agreement on Ancestral Domain (MOA-AD) between the Government of the Republic of the Philippines (GRP) and the MILF. Since last August, there have been a number of field reports, mainly from the AFP, regarding alleged landmine use by the MILF. But this has yet to be verified by independent, competent and credible entities.
PCBL hopes that the MILF declaration of adherence to IHL on landmines will help spur better respect for IHL as well as human rights not only by the MILF but also by the AFP and other armed forces/groups involved in the current hostilities. Any resolution of these hostilities as well as any resumption of the stalled peace negotiations will have to include measures for the respect of IHL and human rights. Those measures should include a more thorough investigation of the various reported violations, the effective imposition of sanctions against those found to be responsible for atrocities to obviate impunity for these, and the adequate provision of different forms of redress for the victims.
And in the particular case of whatever landmines and other unexploded ordnance (UXO) that may still remain on the ground and pose danger to life and limb even after the cessation of hostilities, these explosive remnants of war (ERW) will have to be cleared. All these measures from incident investigation to landmine/UXO clearance would be presumably easier now to get MILF cooperation for, as a result of its declaration of adherence to IHL on landmines. PCBL will do its part in these measures in cooperation with its partners in Mindanao and internationally.
The three earlier signatory Philippine rebel groups in separate but standard declarations are all communist breakaway factions with armed rural units: the Rebolusyonaryong Partido ng Manggagawa ng Mindanao (RPM-M, Revolutionary Workers Party of Mindanao); the Rebolusyonaryong Partido ng Manggagawa ng Pilipinas (RPM-P, Revolutionary Workers Party of the Philippines); and the Marxista-Leninistang Partido ng Pilipinas (MLPP, Marxist-Leninist Party of the Philippines). The first two groups, the RPM-M and RPM-P, are engaged in a peace process and ceasefire with the Philippine government. They signed their declarations through their respective chairmen Harry Tubongbanwa (RPM-M) on 10 February 2008 and Nilo de la Cruz (RPM-P) on 14 May 2008, both in the presence of PCBL which received them.
The third group, the MLPP, has no peace process and ceasefire but instead ongoing armed hostilities through its Rebolusyonaryong Hukbong Bayan (RHB, Revolutionary People’ Army) with Philippine government forces, so this is a real value added to this humanitarian effort. In addition, it had never made a previous commitment to a total ban on anti-personnel mines, unlike the MILF, RPM-P and RPM-M which had previously done so through the groundwork and efforts of PCBL in 2000-03. MLPP spokesperson Leon Guevarra and RHB spokesperson Red Olalia signed the declaration on 29 March 2008 “somewhere in Central Luzon” but, due to technical difficulties, was delivered to PCBL only on 30 July 2008.
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